You Could End Up Paying Millions If You Post The Lyrics To Bowie Or TLC Online

It’s a good day for copyright holders. In a first-of-its-kind decision, a California judge ruled on Wednesday that LiveUniverse had infringed the copyrights to 528 songs—TLC’s “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls” and David Bowie’s “China Girl” among others—by posting their lyrics online, according to law firm Arent Fox, which represented the copyright owners.

That’s right—the lyrics, not the song themselves.

The music publishers that hold the copyrights will get $12,500 per song, totaling a massive $6.6 million in damages, plus attorney fees, according to a press release mailed out by Arent Fox.

LiveUniverse, which is owned by MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, was also found to have illicitly posted unlicensed lyrics Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” and “Georgia on My Mind,” by Ray Charles, according to the law firm.

We reached out to LiveUniverse but did not receive an immediate response.